Minutes after the indictment was announced Thursday, Trump released a lengthy statement calling it the next step in a campaign from the left “to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed “the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.” Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat, said in a tweet: “The indictment of a former president is unprecedented. But so too is the unlawful conduct in which Trump has been engaged.” The Associated Press has the story:
Trump NY indictment: Latest News, Reactions
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)
In the first ever criminal case against a former president, Donald Trump has been indicted on charges involving payments made during his 2016 campaign to quash claims of two extramarital affairs.
Prosecutors in New York focused on money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep the women from going public with claims that they had sexual encounters with him.
Trump, who’s running for the White House again in 2024, called the decision by a Manhattan grand jury to indict him “political persecution and election interference at the highest level.”
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TRUMP CALLS IT A WITCH HUNT
Minutes after the indictment was announced Thursday, Trump released a lengthy statement calling it the next step in a campaign from the left “to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”
“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable – indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” Trump’s statement said.
Trump accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of “doing Joe Biden’s dirty work, ignoring the murders and burglaries and assaults he should be focused on.”
Alina Habba, an attorney for Trump, said the former president is a victim “of a corrupt and distorted version of the American justice system and history. He will be vindicated.”
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MANY REPUBLICANS LINE UP BEHIND TRUMP
Republicans from the former president’s son to GOP senators lashed out at the indictment. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the conservative chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a one-word reaction: “Outrageous.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed “the House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account.”
One of Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, said, without citing evidence, that Trump was innocent and “the only one standing in the way of these modern day tyrants.”
Eric Trump, the former president’s son, said: “This is third-world prosecutorial misconduct.” In a text to The Associated Press, he called the indictment an opportunistic targeting of a political opponent in a campaign year.
“New York is being overrun by violence, children are being been shot in Time Square, homelessness is through the roof yet the only focus of the New York DA is to get Trump,” Eric Trump said.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who had served as Trump’s press secretary at the White House, said Bragg should resign.
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DEMOCRATS CITE THE RULE OF LAW
Democrats, meanwhile, said if Trump broke the law, he should face charges like any American. Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat, said in a tweet: “The indictment of a former president is unprecedented. But so too is the unlawful conduct in which Trump has been engaged.”
Schiff said: “A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office. Especially when they do. To do otherwise is not democracy.”
Democratic New York Rep. Dan Goldman, who served as lead counsel in the first impeachment trial of Trump, said in a statement that “no person is above the law.”
“As the process plays out, every elected official from across the ideological spectrum must make unequivocally clear that there is no room for political violence or interference,” Goldman said. “Donald Trump’s defense must take place in the court of law, not in the halls of Congress or in the political sphere.”
TRUMP’S POTENTIAL CAMPAIGN RIVALS WEIGH IN
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s exploring running for the GOP nomination for president, said on Twitter that his state will not assist in an extradition request for Trump.
“The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head,” he added. “It is un-American.”
Asa Hutchinson, a potential 2024 Republican candidate and the former governor of Arkansas, called it “a dark day for America.” Hutchinson said it is important that Trump be presumed innocent while the case plays out.
Another possible rival to Trump, biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy, said the indictment threatens to undermine public trust in our electoral system and our justice system.
Mike Pompeo, who had served in the Trump administration, sent a fundraising email to potential supporters noting the indictment.
WILL TRUMP BE EXTRADITED?
A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said prosecutors said it wasn’t immediately clear when Trump would be arraigned.
“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” the statement said.
DeSantis said in his tweet that Florida will not assist in an extradition request for Trump.
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TRUMP’S EX-ATTORNEY TESTIFIED IN THIS CASE
Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen served prison time after pleading guilty in 2018 to federal charges, including campaign finance violations, for arranging the payouts to Daniels and another woman, Karen McDougal, and for lying to Congress. Cohen became a key witness testifying before the Manhattan grand jury earlier this month.
“Michael Cohen made the brave decision to speak truth to power and accept the consequences,” his lawyer Lanny J. Davis said in a statement. “And he has done so ever since. I am proud to have been his lawyer and his friend through this long journey on the path to justice and accountability.”
STORMY DANIELS POPS BUBBLY
The porn star at the center of the case took to Twitter to thank her supporters.
“I have so many messages coming in that I can’t respond … also don’t want to spill my champagne,” Stormy Daniels tweeted.
She didn’t waste an opportunity to make some merchandise sales.
“#Teamstormy merch/autograph orders are pouring in, too! Thank you for that as well but allow a few extra days for shipment,” she said.
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TRUMP USES INDICTMENT TO RAISE CASH
Like Stormy Daniels, Trump didn’t let the moment pass without trying to make some money off it.
Moments after media outlets began to report the indictment, Trump’s campaign was out with a fundraising missive calling for donations ahead of a Friday deadline when first-quarter figures are made public. He said Democrats will be watching to see if the “witch hunt out of Manhattan weakened our movement.”
___ TRUMP SUPPORTERS GET RILED UP ONLINE
News of the indictment lit up message boards, websites and social media platforms popular with Trump supporters. Some discounted it as fake, while others noted the indictment came just before the start of Holy Week and compared Trump to a persecuted Christ.
Scattered among the comments were calls for Trump supporters to rise up in protest.
Still others speculated that Trump’s indictment would galvanize Republicans ahead of the 2024 election and serve as a precedent allowing for future prosecutions of Democrats.
